[spurxiii]

The unit includes rollable op amps. You might try the blue 797 in the gain (by the battery) and the high power buffers with the resistors on them (by the front). Great combo. Also set it to medium or high gain (manual is in the iBasso site).

Thanks! I'm so excited, the mad dogs were so lacklustre on my JDS C5 but it was like a different headphone on my budget desktop setup. If I achieve 80% of that I'll be happy.

 

[sceleratus]

Hi Guys n' Gals,
 
I've seen a lot of good posts about the MD's.   I have not read in depth.
I built an amp for myself and have a Gungnir and LCD2.
 
I realize this is an impressions thread........
 
Are MD's the way to go if I want a nice set of comfortable cans that my wife can plug into her Mac?
Is it a waste w/o a DAC and an amp?
Looking for simple middle of the road. 

 

[M3NTAL]

Put the LCD-2 in the roll of the Mad Dog and think about if you would like that setup or not.  Mad Dogs are much more comfortable than the LCD-2 (My opinion) and respond to amplification in the same way.

 

[Greed]

Quote:

Inflation calculators. I tested it and it looks about right.

 
Oh I see. I guess those calculators also factor in nostalgia and the human element? 

 

[oll180]

Quote:

I am currently using a 35 pound 1979 Sansui amp, probably not too different from your Rotel.
 
The $100 cost of a Magni, is equivalent to $20 in 1974.  Mike Moffat does an excellent job to get a reasonably good sound out of so little cost.
 
The cost of the Sansui in 2013 dollars is $1,500 - but I paid not much more than the cost of a Magni, for one that was recapped and fully serviced, brought back to factory specs.
 
You say "Problem is its huge and not so easy to move around." and then you say " Desktop or portable is fine." which is contradictory.  "Desktop" means not going to be moved...
 
Which model of Rotel

The Rotel is an RA-1412 made in 1977 . Was the family stereo for many years. It weighs in at 22 kilos. I was thinking that a lot of the modern desktop headphone amplifiers are going to be a LOT lighter than that and a litle easier to move around when needed. I Think Mr Speakers himself has just answered my question anyway with a thumbs up for the ibasso PB2. Might check out their DB2 dac as well.
 
 I also think that the Magni/Modi are fantastic Value and produce a great sound. Just not for my ears or the mad dogs.

 

[mrspeakers]

If you are checking out the PB2/DB2 combo be sure to also look at Ray Samuel's amazing Intruder, super tine, packs a wallop, sounds great.

 

[oll180]

Quote:

If you are checking out the PB2/DB2 combo be sure to also look at Ray Samuel's amazing Intruder, super tine, packs a wallop, sounds great.

I will look it up. The Mad Dogs sound great and only took 4 days to get from San Diego to far North Australia! Very happy with the product. 

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

Put the LCD-2 in the roll of the Mad Dog and think about if you would like that setup or not.  Mad Dogs are much more comfortable than the LCD-2 (My opinion) and respond to amplification in the same way.

Strangely, I have never plugged the LCD's directly into my Mac.
Now they have XLR terminations and I would have to make an adapter for that test.
 
My objective is a convenient, un-amplified solution. Middle of the road.
If they aren't going to sound "good"  (subjective, I know) without an amp and DAC, I'll swim down the food chain.
 
If they will, then it would be cool to make a 1/8">1/4">XLR adapter to plug into the 300B too.

 

[M3NTAL]

My G/F has PX90's and Custom IEM's since she has no real amp.  She just got a Audioquest Dragonfly though, so that should help that situation out.

 

[spurxiii]

Look what I got




Had a quick listen to my mad dogs via the iphone4s. Need it at about 85% volume to sound decent but it might be on low gain. Gotta play around with it

Came with no instructions so I'm not sure what to do with the chips supplied

 

[imackler]

Oh my goodness! Just got my used 3.0. These are awesome! Been a while since I've not wanted to take a pair of hesdphones off. Thinking about buying a 3.2 and upgrading these to alpha dogs!

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

The Rotel is an RA-1412 made in 1977 . Was the family stereo for many years. It weighs in at 22 kilos. I was thinking that a lot of the modern desktop headphone amplifiers are going to be a LOT lighter than that and a litle easier to move around when needed. I Think Mr Speakers himself has just answered my question anyway with a thumbs up for the ibasso PB2. Might check out their DB2 dac as well.

First off, Ibasso has an excellent reputation, as does CEntrance, Schiit and HRT among others.
 
Second, I doubt any will sound quite as good as an RA-1412 (assuming any electronic parts that have deteriorated with age are replaced).   The rep on that is tops, period.   The weight is for very good reasons:
 

 

[sceleratus]

Quote:

First off, Ibasso has an excellent reputation, as does CEntrance, Schiit and HRT among others.
 
Second, I doubt any will sound quite as good as an RA-1412 (assuming any electronic parts that have deteriorated with age are replaced).   The rep on that is tops, period.   The weight is for very good reasons:
 

mine's a diode shy of 55 pounds

 

[spurxiii]

The mad dogs sound fantastic via the PB2s by the way. Only problem is that I need to have the volume at about 80% to get decent sound out of. I've set the jumpers to high gain. I haven't played around with anything else yet. Don't get me wrong, this is more better sounding than I expected but I thought it would blow my ears well before the 12 o'clock mark. Can someone advise if I'm doing something wrong

 

[kskwerl]

Quote:

The mad dogs sound fantastic via the PB2s by the way. Only problem is that I need to have the volume at about 80% to get decent sound out of. I've set the jumpers to high gain. I haven't played around with anything else yet. Don't get me wrong, this is more better sounding than I expected but I thought it would blow my ears well before the 12 o'clock mark. Can someone advise if I'm doing something wrong

Are you using the Ibasso balanced connection? I had the MD balanced with that iBasso connector and even then I kept it at about 80% but I always thought it sounded the best I've heard the MDs out of the Lyr/O2/ALO The International/Leckerton MKII. I had Top Flights Opamp kit as well